By anyone's standards, work-related travel and tourism is big business. A few figures will serve to illustrate the global scale of business travel and tourism:
1 The Worldwide Guide to Conference and Incentive Travel Facilities, 1999-2000 guide listed more than 6000 major venues worldwide. This was a clear underestimate as this guide focuses disproportionately on the UK.
2 It is estimated that in the late 1990s, business tourism contributed around £.12 billion to the UK economy alone (Rogers, 1998).
3 In the mid-1990s, the German conference market amounted to DM43 billion {approximately £16 billion) at 1996 prices. This represented more than 1 per cent of the German gross national product (German Convention Bureaux, 1996).
4 Deloitte and Touche estimated that in 1996 the meetings, convention, exhibition and incentive travel market in the USA was worth around $83 billion (around £55 billion) at 1996 prices (Rogers, 1998).
5 A survey of international convention delegates in Australia in 1996 found that they spent an average of over £2000 each on their visit to the city (Sydney Convention and Visitors Bureau, 1997).
6 A single political party conference in the UK injects over £10 million to the destination economy over a period of just three or four days (Rogers, 1998).
7 The global incentive travel market is already worth more than $20 billion even though it is a relatively recent development (SITE, 1998).
8 The average cost of running an association conference in the USA was $130000 (£85000 approximately) in 1997-8, while convention and exhibition delegates spent an average of $696 (around £460) attending events which involved a three-night stay in 1997-8 (International Association of Convention and Visitor Bureaux, 1998).
9 The 1998 Association of British Travel Agents Conference in MarbeUa cost a total of £1.5 million to organize (Conference and Incentive Travel, 1998).
10 Over a seven-day period the launch of the Peugeot 206 car in Birmingham, UK, cost the company £1.6 million (Conference and Incentive Travel, 1998).
11 In France, towards the end of the 1990s, 750 million francs were spent expanding the Palais de Congres in Paris (Conference and Incentive Travel, 1998).
12 Over 7300 organizations exhibited at the International Confex exhibition which took place in London in March 1999 (Conference and Incentive Travel, 1999).
It is clear therefore that business travel and tourism is a major economic phenomenon, around the world.
According to the given above information it is difficult to organize an international event which involves hundreds of participants alone. Different international organizations work in cooperation because their objections differ. For example:
International organizations
ACTE
The Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE) is a not-for-profit, international association established to provide executive-level global education and peer-to-peer networking opportunities. ACTE members are ready to expand their knowledge base and share their own unique experiences and perspectives. Membership spans all of business travel, from corporate buyers to agencies to suppliers, and accords all sectors equal membership. ACTE serves more than 6,000 travel executives in 50 countries.
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MPI
Meeting Professionals International is the largest association of meeting professionals with over 19.000 members in 60 countries. There are currently 60 chapters, and an additional 4 chapters in formation. MPI's current membership ratio is 46 % planners and 54 % suppliers. MPI members are dedicated professionals in planning, managing and supplying services to the dynamic meeting industry. They strive to help both meeting planners and suppliers to enhance their professional growth while saving them valuable time and money through superior educational programming, timely and topical communication, extensive resources, professional interaction, and exclusive discounts.
ICCA
International Congress & Convention Association
was founded in 1963 by a group of travel agents. Their first and foremost aim was to evaluate practical ways to get the travel industry involved in the rapidly expanding market of international meetings and to exchange actual information related to their operations in this market. This initiative soon proved to have been taken at the right moment: the meeting industry expanded even more rapidly than foreseen. As a result of which candidates from all over the world applied for ICCA membership. ICCA provides educational programmes, concerted promotion through international meeting news, a membership directory, international trade shows, database, contacts with international clients and networking with ICCA members etc. ICCA now is one of the most prominent organisations in the world of international meetings. It is the only association that comprises a membership representing the main specialists in handling, transporting and accommodating international events. With more than 600 members in 80 countries around the world, it is certainly the most global organisation within the meetings industry. ICCA has offices in the Netherlands, Malaysia and Uruguay.
IAPCO
International Association of Professional Congress Organizers
is a professional organization for organizers of international, regional, and national congresses, conferences and events. Founded in 1968, IAPCO has 100 members in 38 countries all of whom take part in a full quality assessment programme. IAPCO is not so much a business network as a business forum for sharing knowledge; an international branding for quality in every aspect of its output and membership. lAPCO's objectives are to set and maintain high professional standards; to contribute to the study, theory and practice of international meetings; to organize training programmes at all levels.
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The list of business travel organizations is rather long. Among such organizations are international and regional ones:
•AIPC - International Association of Congress Centres
•ASAE - ASAE & The Center for Association Leadership
•AUMA - Ausstellungs- und Messeausschuss der deutschen Wirtschaft
•EFCT - the unique European Federation of Convention Bureaus
•EMC - European Marketing Confederation
•EVVC - European Association of Event Centers
•EXSA - Exhibition Association of Southern Africa
•HCCE Historic Conference Centres of Europe
•IACVB - Destination Marketing Association International
•IAEM - International Association for Exhibition Management
•EFCT - European Federation of Conference Town
•IFEA - International Festival & Events Association Europe
•IFES - International Federation of Exhibitions and Events Services
•MIAA - Meetings & Events Australia